


Coffee and Christmas Cheer

by totemwolfie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Christmas AU, M/M, SHEITH - Freeform, Sheith au, Short Story, allura and lance's children, holiday au, keith is a busy uncle, mall santa shiro, sheith christmas, shiro is santa, very short story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:00:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21624154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totemwolfie/pseuds/totemwolfie
Summary: Keith volunteers to take Allura's twins to see Santa Claus at the mall.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 124





	Coffee and Christmas Cheer

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this idea when I was listening to my favorite Christmas playlist and decorating my Christmas tree, because for whatever reason I became really sad, and needed to cheer myself up. This is very short, and rather stupid, and I realize I could have written it as an actual story but my creativity has been lagging again, and I didn't want this to sit unfinished for weeks. A N Y W A Y enough of my negativity! I hope you enjoy it! xoxo

“Uncle Keith! Uncle Keith!”

Keith stopped to scoop up the first child that reached him. Andrielle wrapped her little arms around his neck and hugged him as hard as she could.

And for a three-year old, it was pretty hard. 

“Andi,” Allura laughed as she walked over carrying a large backpack. “Don’t be so rough.”

“It’s all right,” Keith laughed as he set the child on her feet. Her twin brother, Sawyer, stood next to his mother, more shy than his sister. But when Keith beckoned, he ran into his arms and was scooped up.

“I can’t thank you enough, Keith,” Allura said as she handed him the backpack full of everything he would need for a long day of babysitting. “Lance’s flight was cancelled due to a blizzard and I have to fill in at the hospital for the afternoon, but I promised the kids they could go see Santa at the mall today, and I know their daycare won’t take them.”

“Allura,” he laughed,”I told you, it’s not a problem. I love watching them. They’re great kids.”

She eyed him skeptically. “We’ll see if you still think that way tonight. Everything you need is in the bag. They had a big breakfast so they should be okay for a couple hours. There’s a bag of snacks and some extra pull-ups if we have any accident and—“

Keith interrupted her with a wave of his hand. “I’ve done this before. We’ll have a great time. And we’ll go see Santa! Right kids?”

“Santa!” They shrieked together.

Together they moved car-seats into the back of Keith’s old Jeep, while the kids ran around in the snow-covered yard, yelling and laughing with excitement. When they started to throw snowballs at them, Allura reminded them that Santa was always watching and if they were naughty, they wouldn’t get what they wanted for Christmas.

After a quick good-bye, Keith and the kids left and he steeled himself for what was guaranteed to be a very long day. Keith liked to tease Lance that his kids were handfuls just like him, but the truth was, Allura could be a bit of a handful as well, just in a different way. She was hard-headed and bold, and nothing stopped her once she had her mind set on something. Keith already saw a lot of that in Andi, while Sawyer was quieter, but no less mischievous.

“Are we going to see Santa, Uncle Keith?” Sawyer asked from the backseat.

“We will tonight,” Keith said as he looked at the time. It wasn’t quite eleven yet, and Santa wouldn’t be arriving at the mall until five, soo they had some time to waste. Keith drove them back to his apartment and immediately his cat disappeared and he knew he wouldn’t see her again until the kids left. They did their best to not be too rough with the cat, but they were kids and sometimes they didn’t know their own strength.

They spent the next couple of hours making sugar cookies, which in itself was quite the adventure. Keith let the kids help as much as they wanted, from breaking the eggs (and digging chunks of eggshell out of the dough) to mixing in the flour (which was a massive mistake when Sawyer dropped the bag of flour on the floor.) As the cookies baked he had to clean both kids off, then as the cookies cooled he cleaned himself and the kitchen up. Next they frosted the cookies, and while none of the trees were green and the reindeer were all missing a limb or a head, it turned out to be more fun than Keith could have anticipated. They added chunky sprinkles and colored sugar and ate far too much icing.

And after that, everyone had to get cleaned up again, along with the kitchen. But thankfully after all that, and only a handful of episodes of Paw Patrol, it was close enough to time to go see Santa. So Keith bundled everyone up in their winter coats and mittens, as the temperature had dropped quite a bit, along with about an inch of fresh snow. He strapped them into their car-seats, stopped through Starbucks for a coffee because he had a feeling he was going to need it, and drove to the mall.

What Keith didn’t realize, and absolutely should have, was that they weren’t the only ones going to see Santa at the mall, and there was quite the line, and kids screaming _everywhere._ By the grace of god Andi and Sawyer were both very well behaved, and he took turns holding either one in line while the other played on his phone.

After what felt like an eternity, which was more like two hours, they were closer to the front and he could see the entire Christmas display in front of him. There was a fake Christmas village backdrop, with lots of fake pine trees and snow, a faux reindeer standing in the corner, and a photographer set up for those willing to pay for a photograph with Santa. He could hear the man laughing, and his voice wasn’t typical old-man chuckle he was used to, it was quite a bit younger and jovial, and Keith stood on his toes, trying to get a look at the man.

He had to settle until they were next to go up, because there were simply too many people and children. When the elf at the gate moved the rope for them, he picked up both kids and walked the path surrounded by large candy canes through the fake snow. Santa sat in an overly large red chair and waved as they approached.

“One at a time, kids--”

“I’m first!” Andi insisted loudly as he squirmed in his arms and nearly threw Keith’s cell phone at the man’s head. 

“Hello, kids!” the man dressed as Santa Claus greeted cheerfully. “Don’t stress your dad out too much, we have plenty of time.”

Keith blushed hard. “Uh, not their dad,” he corrected quietly as he set Andi down on the man’s knee. 

“That’s Uncle Keith!” Andi exclaimed. 

“It’s very nice of Uncle Keith to bring you all the way here to see me, isn’t it?” Santa said with a smile. The beard was obviously fake, and the man was much leaner than the typical Santa. Keith could tell from here that the man was tall and broad-shouldered, and now he understood why so many of the moms in line were whispering about this year’s ‘hot Santa.’

He’d thought they had all had some kind of grandpa kink, but now it all made total sense.

“Tell Santa what you want, Andi,” Keith said, well aware there was a line behind them and the time for Santa was coming to a close. “There are lots of other kids in line who want to talk to Santa, too.”

In the end, they had to stop Andi as she talked way too much about wanting a real pony for Christmas, and wanting to see her Uncle Hunk (who was on vacation in Europe with his fiance and wouldn’t be home at Christmas,) then Sawyer had been scared and started to cry, which had forced Keith to hold the boy while Santa talked gently to him. In the end Sawyer had only asked that his daddy come home and that he wanted a soccer ball.

Keith thanked the man and gathered up the kids, who were much more quiet now that all the excitement was over. They had about an hour before Allura was supposed to be home from work, so Keith asked the kids if they wanted to drive through a couple of the richer neighborhoods to look at the lights. 

“Uncle Keith, do you like the lights?” Andi asked from the backseat as they drove slowly through another neighborhood.

“I do,” he said. There were lots of other cars doing the same thing as them, so they were going slower than he would have liked. But the kids were mostly quiet, and were having fun, and that was all that really mattered.

“Who's your favorite reindeer?” Sawyer asked.

Keith said Dancer because it was the only name he could remember.

“Let’s go see if your mom is home,” Keith said sometime later. He was out of coffee and he was starting to feel as tired as the kids. In fact, he was sure that Sawyer was asleep in the backseat. Andi was just as chatty as ever, however, and Keith listened as she made up stories about the My Little Ponies she had pulled out of the backpack.

Allura met them outside as Keith pulled up the driveway next to her car.

“They look exhausted,” Allura laughed as he she picked a sleepy Sawyer out of his car-seat.

“We’ve had a long day,” Keith laughed as he grabbed the bag and one of the car-seats. Together they brought everything into the house. Sawyer woke long enough to show his mom the cookies they had made and brought home to share, and then he went and passed out on the couch. Keith hugged Allura, and was about to leave, when he patted down his pockets.

He froze. “Andi? Do you have my phone yet?”

The little girl was sitting on the floor eating a cookie. “No.”

He frowned. “Is it in the Jeep?”

Andi blinked her big dark eyes up at him. “I dropped it.”

“Andi!” Allura scolded. “Where did you drop Keith’s phone?”

“On Santa,” she confessed.

“Oh--Keith I’m sorry--” Allura said as she turned to him. 

He shook his head and grabbed his scarf and gloves. “The mall is still open, I'll see if I can find it. It’s okay.” Seeing that the little girl was visibly upset, he stopped to kiss her on the top of the head. “I’m sure Santa still has it. I’ll talk to you later, Allura.”

He wasn’t as calm as he appeared on the outside; he was sure his phone was gone for good and he was going to have to go through the hassle of getting a new one. He drove back to the mall, slower than before as it was snowing again the evening traffic was thick, and when he got there the mall was close to closing. He ran through the parking lot and around shoppers and workers to the Santa Claus set-up.

No Santa Claus, no elves, no photographer. It was closed up for the evening and a big sign informed him that Santa would be back tomorrow. He groaned, tearing his hands through his hair before he turned on his heel. He found the information desk, hoping to check with lost-and-found, but no one showed up to help him. Growing more frustrated he decided to leave and check back in the morning, as fruitless as it may seem.

He adjusted his coat and scarf, heading back outside into the snow, when he heard someone call his name.

“Keith!” 

Keith stopped and turned around, frowning as a man ran towards him. Keith’s frown deepened because he absolutely did not know this man. He didn’t know anyone as gorgeous as this guy. Tall, wide shoulders and a perfect build. He was wearing tight jeans and a long black blazer, with a red and black plaid scarf. His his was black and short, with an unusual shock of white bangs, and had a pink scar across his nose.

“Uh,” Keith said nervously. “Can I help you?”

“It is you, thank god,” the man laughed breathlessly as he started to go through his messenger bag. After a second he happily shouted, “Here we go!” and held something out to Keith.

“My phone?” he said, surprised. He stepped closer and took it from him. “How did you get my phone?”

“Your niece dropped it,” the stranger said with a smile.

Keith squinted at the man. The fake beard earlier had hidden such a gorgeous smile, but he recognized the dark, twinkling eyes. He started somewhat. “Santa?”

“I prefer Shiro,” the man said with a blush. 

“Yeah--right of course, obviously you aren’t actually--” he bit his tongue and preoccupied himself by shoving his phone in his back pocket and adjusting his scarf against the cold. “Thank you, Shiro. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”

“I lost my phone once,” Shiro said, “I know how much it sucks to get a new one.”

Keith realized he was staring, but he couldn’t help it. However, when he realized that Shiro was staring just as hard at him, he blushed and stepped back. “Can I do anything to thank you?”

“No, no,” Shiro said as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I just wanted to do the right thing.”

It was too cold, snowy, and dark for them to be standing in a busy mall parking lot. Keith looked around and saw there was a small coffee shop across from the mall. The neon sign read it was open twenty-four hours, and there were strings of Christmas lights in the windows and a large decorated tree just outside the door. He looked at it, then back to Shiro. “How about a cup of coffee? If you aren’t busy?”

Shiro’s smile was brilliant, and Keith felt his heart melt. “You know what? That sounds great.”

They walked there together, and Keith bowed his head as Shiro held the door for him. Inside the shop it was warm and smelled like cinnamon and coffee. They took a seat at an empty booth. The waitress came and took their order for two coffees to-go. Keith couldn’t help but stare at Shiro as the man checked his phone.

Whoever thought to cover such a face with a fake beard was an idiot, he decided.

“So how did you get the Santa-gig?” Keith asked.

Shiro smiled. He thanked the waitress for their coffees and added an obscene amount of sugar to his before taking a drink. “I need some extra holiday money, and it seemed like an easy job.”

“Is it?” Keith asked, though he already had a good idea of what the answer would be.

“It’s not exactly hard, but it’s stressful sometimes,” Shiro admitted. “Most of the kids are great. Like your niece and nephew, but some can be little shits. It’s mostly the moms that are a bit strange. A lot want pictures with me, too.”

Shiro looked absolutely confused, and it was too much for Keith to take. He laughed and said, “All the moms want their picture taken with Hot Santa.”

Shiro blushed and his mouth opened in surprise. “What?”

“Shiro,” Keith gently scolded, “you can’t tell me that you don’t know how you look in that suit?”

“Are people seriously attracted to Santa Claus?” he whispered to Keith.

“They are when he looks like--” Keith bit his tongue again and leaned back. “When he um. Looks like you.” 

He knew he was saying way too much on the man’s attractiveness. Shiro could be straight, in a relationship, or not comfortable with such comments. But instead, Shiro leaned his chin in his hand and said, “You think I’m hot?”

“Hey now,” Keith said with a blush as he sipped his coffee, “I never said that.”

The man’s laughter was deep and warm, and Keith felt his chest tighten with emotion. “Well, Keith, thank you for the coffee and the compliments, but I should get home. I smell like mall and sweaty Santa costume.”

Keith stood. “Oh--right. Have a good… a good Christmas.”

Shiro smiled down at him and, after a deep breath, asked, “Maybe we could see each other again?”

Keith squeezed his to-go cup so hard he almost spilled the coffee out of it. “Uh?”

“If you wanted,” Shiro quickly added.

He nodded slowly, smiling. “I would like that.” They exchanged phone numbers, and when Keith was home that night he took the time to text Allura and tell her that he found his phone. Then, while curled up on the couch in front of the fireplace, eating a sugar cookie with far too much icing and sprinkles, he heard his phone beep.

**Shiro (11:47pm) _Do you like to ice skate?_**

He absolutely did not. He fell every time and had the grace of a newborn giraffe. But as his cat purred and bumped her head against his chin, he smiled and text back.

**Keith (11:50pm) _I can learn._**


End file.
